How many of your items go missing with RM

chickaroonee

I'm not accusing any particular person of lying but overall I have found my ebay sales go missing in the post a great deal more than my personal post.

For instance, over the years I have ordered/received hundreds of parcels through RM, and I can't think of one that ever went missing. Quite a few took a while to arrive (2 weeks plus) but all seemed to turn up eventually.

On ebay I have sold less than 100 things in the last year, and 3 have gone missing. Before this it seemed to be 1 in 20 (ish) things I sold would get lost. This seems really high to me, what do others find?

I don't generally sell high risk things, and have started sending somethings recorded to see if helps at all, but I don't really like recorded as a service and understand why buyers don't too. I am also waiting for my last RM claim which appears to have been lost (!) together with my proof of posting - learnt a lesson on that one to keep a copy.

Oliver14

Ebay Items I send I get around 1 in 1000 lost. That's the majority sent second class. Personal items i've sent in the past year i've had 4 or 5 presents to my Family in Nottingham go missing. So either my family are telling some Porkies or there is a black hole Somewhere in Nottingham.

Items I receive (I order a lot online) I had 2 items not arrive from Amazon over Christmas. Ive had a B'day present not arrive and 1 ebay item (which the seller accused me of being a scammer).

So a pretty mixed bag. it seems I have less problems with ebay items both selling and receiving than anything else.

chickaroonee

1 in 1000 seems a lot better than my 3 in 80...

hermum

I've only ever had 1 item not arrive to the buyer, probably a year or so ago.
Over Xmas I had a package to me go missing.
Luckily my loss % is negligible.

Oliver14

chickaroonee wrote: »

1 in 1000 seems a lot better than my 3 in 80...

That does seem high. You've probably already done this always worth checking your packaging and that your return address is visible.

It could be just a bad patch. A few years ago I had 3 items go missing on the trot I checked everything but nothing I was doing seem to flag a problem. I did contact the RM and mention high losses (not sure if that did anything but nothing to lose). After that I didn't have another loss for around 18 months.

chemical.galaxy

Since January as a seller I have had 4 parcels go missing from around 600 transactions, mostly posted 2nd class.
I use polybags, a returns label and write the address on sticky postal labels with a biro

As a buyer, no INR

Crowqueen

As a buyer I've had three INRs, four if you count the one a long time ago before Paypal made it worthwhile to bother claiming for small amounts. Two I haven't had to contest. One I've had to go to dispute after pretty poor comms, including ignoring a message

As a seller I had one INR and the person bought from me again because I handled it well. I sent some freebies with her second purchase to make up for the loss but it got there OK (I sent it RD just in case...).

For other sites though, apart from one exceptionally long wait for a third-party book from Amazon and one DVD over one Christmas, which is to be expected and taught me not to bother ordering online during December, nothing has ever gone missing.

chickaroonee

Everything is very well labeled, with return addresses so I know it's not that. It's weird, I don't sell all the time, turns to be in batches when I'm in the mood, so not like things are going missing from the same delivery or anything like that. Oh well, we will see what happens when I start selling more as a business in a few weeks. If I have losses at that level when selling in greater volumes I'll have to send recorded I think.

Crowqueen

chickaroonee wrote: »

Everything is very well labeled, with return addresses so I know it's not that. It's weird, I don't sell all the time, turns to be in batches when I'm in the mood, so not like things are going missing from the same delivery or anything like that. Oh well, we will see what happens when I start selling more as a business in a few weeks. If I have losses at that level when selling in greater volumes I'll have to send recorded I think.

As a business you must check whether it will be competitive for you to send RD, particularly if items are small enough to go through letterboxes. Bear in mind that people are usually out by the time the post comes and might not be too happy if they have to go to the sorting office to collect a small, easily available item and that could affect your DSRs, particularly P&P or dispatch.

You must check that the opportunity costs of RD outweigh the losses you are apparently suffering. There are a few markets where it is worthwhile (you're not going to sell wargaming miniatures, are you?!) but if you are selling commonly available small widgets it might be easier to eat the losses and price your stuff accordingly.

madmonkey01

if you dont send items recorded. Scammers can always get their/ your money back via paypal.

chickaroonee

No it's packet items in the main. I know I don't like RD as a buyer, I really don't, and I know in many cases it's not signed..but I do wonder why I seem to get more than average people telling me their items haven't arrived (I'm thinking over the last 8 years here). Oh well, hoping it's just a blip because my transactions are quite low overall.